Avira Antivirus: Available Options

Avira Antivirus is available in three formats for individuals, and more options are available for professionals or small business use. This review focuses on the three antivirus software formats for individual use. These are: Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus, Avira Antivir Premium and Avira Antivir Premium Security Suite.

The best thing about Avira Antivir Personal – Free Antivirus is, well, that it is free! It protects your computer against harmful viruses, worms, and Trojans that could cause headaches and wreak havoc on your computer. However, it does not protect against spyware and adware, so it would be wise to run the software in conjunction with anti-spyware software – or upgrade to the premium edition. The free version also lacks an email scanner. There is some support for people who use the free edition on the Avira website, including FAQs and basic help for common problems with downloading the antivirus software and other issues you may encounter. Upon closer examination, however, all phone calls for technical support are going to be costly, because the support phone number is a German number.

If you know a lot about computers, you might be able to figure everything out on your own. If you want help close by and you live in the U.S., this might not be the right software for you. One nice feature is that you can also submit a suspicious file to Avira and the support personnel will check it out for you to see if it is indeed a virus. There is also a cool support forum made up of Avira users. It seems to be written by computer geniuses for computer geniuses, though, so good luck. If you do not currently have any antivirus protection on your computer, Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus is a very good option. You will not be fully protected, however, so beware.

Avira Antivir Premium costs $25.93 for one PC for one year, which is not a bad price! This option is touted as “surfing and emailing” protection, so if that is what you do on your PC, this is probably a good bet for you. You can try it free for 30 days before buying, which is nice. It is good, solid antivirus software and fills the holes in the free version by including protection against spyware, adware, rootkits and phishing.

So why do you need Avira Antivir Premium Security Suite at $51.93 per PC per year? Well, do you do more than surf the internet and send out some emails? If you do any online shopping or online banking you might want to consider this upgrade. Firewall protection, an online back-up system, GameMode (which allows uninterrupted game play) and Avira Support all make this a wise investment. Avira has received many awards for its excellent antivirus software, and the Premium Security Suite will insure you against frustrating down time due to a computer virus, or worse, a stolen social security number or credit card number. It even gives you parental controls to keep your kids safe online.

Let’s face it, if we can get something free, we usually want to do that. If money is tight, Avira Antivir Personal – Free Antivirus is a good start for antivirus software. If you want to be safe and secure while surfing the web, upgrade to Premium. If you bank or shop online, upgrade to the Security Suite. You won’t regret it.

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